Railway-crossing gate



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AJ. 'RUTEHERIORDl RAILWAY CROSSING GATE.

No. 531,066. lPatentd Dec. 18

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' J. RUT-HERFORD.

RAILWAY: CROSSING GATE.

gg Patented Dec-l 418, l1894:;

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J. RUTHER'FORD. Y RAILWAY CROSSING GATE.

Patented Dec. 18, 1894.

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- 4 ASheets-Sheet 4. J. RUTHERFORD. RAILWAY CROSSING GATE.

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UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMEs RUTHERFORD, or BRooKLYN, NEW YORK.

RAiLwAY-cRosslNe GATE.

SPECIFICATION formnglpart of Letters Patent No. 531,066, dated December18, 1894.

Application filed July 28,1894. Serial No. 518,825. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES RUTHERFORD, of Brooklyn, in the county ofKings and State of New York, have invented'a new and useful Improvementin Railway-Crossing Gates, of which the vfollowing is a full, clear, andexact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in railway'crossing gates, and it4has for its object'to provide a means whereby in a simple, expeditiousand eective vmanner the gates may be automatically closed by a trainapproaching the crossing,k the closure being effected when the trainreaches a point'a predetermined distance from the crossing, and wherebylikewise,after the train has passed th? crossing it will automaticallyopen theV ga e.

Another object of the invention is so to construct the devices employed,that a train appreaching a crossing upon one track will close the gatesat each side of the line of tracks in a' two-track road. f

The invention consists in the lnovel construction and Vcombination ofthe several parts, as willbe hereinafter fully set forth, and pointedout-in the claims. f

Referenceisto be' had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar Iigures and letters of referenceindicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a plan View of a railroad crossing, illustratingtheapplication of the improvement, and also illustrating the gates open.f Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectionthrough one of the tracks,taken'substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view similarto Fig. 1, illustrating, however, the crossing gates in a closedposition, and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section through one ofI thetracks,

taken practically onthe line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Figs. 5 and 6 are ylongitudinal enlarged sections, taken through aIportion of one of the tracks, Fig. 5 illustratingthe position of theactuating mechanism when a gate is closed, and Fig. 6 illustrating theposition of the said mechanism Awhen the gate is open. Fig. 7 is atransverse section taken through the two tracks, practically on the line7-7 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 8 is a similar section taken subst-antially onthe line 8-8 of Fig. 3.

In carrying out the invention I have illustrated a crossing wherein twotracks are laid, A and B, A being for example the downtrack andB theup-track. The crossing is 'defined at each side of the line of tracks bya fence C, or the equivalent thereof, containing openings 10, adapted tobe closed by suitable gates, the gate for the down-track beingdesignated as 11 and 'the gate for'the up-track as 11a. These gates areshown as sliding in reverse directions p and between guides 12, suitableopenings 13 being produced between the guides in the surface upon whichthe tracks are laid, or in the adjacent surface, and the said openings13 are made to communicate with' suitable pits formed beneath thesurface.

The gates, as shownin Figs. 5 and 6, are provided with extensions 14. ofthe side members `of their' frames, forming virtually legs, and

these legs are bifurcated or forked at their lower extremities, andreceive between their members friction rollers 15, the friction rollersof a gate being made to travel upon a rail 16, located below the gate,and supported therein by brackets 17, hangers, or their equivalents.

Apredetermined distance' from the gates in one directiomparallel fenders18 are laid between the rails of each track, and these fenders areusually curved downward at their ends,l and are in pairs, the two pairsbeing preferably opposite each other as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3.Suitable pits are located beneath these fenders, and communicate with junder both of the tracks, and below the openings19 nearest the gates, asshownin dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 3. This shaft carries at or neareach extremity a pinion 23, and likewise two sprocket wheels 24, onebelow eachv opening 19 nearest the gates and revolving in said openingsin like manner as the opposed wheels 20. A chain belt 25, is carried byeach set of sprocket wheels 20 and 24, the upper stretches of the beltsbeing above the surface upon which the fenders are laid and locatedbetween said fenders, while the lower stretches are within the pits.Each of these endless belts 25 is provided with a lng 26, projecting atan angle, usually at a right angle, from a link in the upper stretch ofthe belt, the lug being adapted to travel substantially the length ofthe fenders, and when a lug is at one end of the fenders between whichit is placed, it will be made to enter an opening in the surface to suchan extent that it will be considerably below the plane of the tread ofthe rails, as shown in Fig. 6, and consequently out of the path of thepilot D of an engine, or a buffer D carried by the said pilot andadapted to strike the said lug; but when the lug is at the opposite endof the fenders between which it is stationed, it will extend upward, asshown in Fig. 5, and be in a position to be engaged by the buffer of apassing engine, or the pilot itself, if desired.

The gate 11 near the up-track B, has attached to one of its legs 14 theinner end of a bar 27, having formed upon the upper face of its oppositeend a rack, as shown in Fig. 2, engaging with the lower periphery of thepinion 23 on the shaft 22 and adjacent to the said up-track, asillustrated in the same iigure, while the opposite leg 14 of the gate isattached to the inner end of a similar bar 27 provided with a rack uponits under face, engaging with the upper periphery of a pinion 31alocated on a short shaft 33, facing the gates yet removed therefrom apredetermined distance in an opposite direction from the continuousshaft 22 heretofore described.

The shaft 33 is duplicated beneath the down-track A, and corresponds tothe shaft 22, since at this pointin each track fenders 29 are employed,being the equivalent of the fenders 18, and an endless chain belt 30, ismade to travel between the fenders, the lower stretches of the beltsbeing beneath the surface of the ground, and the said belts pass oversprocket wheels 3l, located on the shafts 33, and corresponding withwheels 32, located on shafts 32 parallel with the shafts 33. Thesesprocket wheels rotate in openings produced between the fenders, and theendless chain belts are each provided with a lug 34, corresponding inposition to, and operating in the same manner as theiugs 26 belonging tothe chain belts 25 at the opposite side of the gates. Thus it will beobservedthat the rack bars attached to each gate engage, one with theunder surface of a pinion and the other with the upper surface, so thatone pinion will move the gate in a direction to close it, while theother pinion will act to open the gate.

The racks operating one gate are placed in reverse position to the racksoperating the the opposing gate, the rack bars of the gate 11 beingdesignated as 28 and 28". This is clearly shown in Figs. 7 and 8, inwhich it will be observed that the rack on the operating bar 27, nearthe up-track B, engages with the lower peripheral surface of the pinion23 of the shaft 22, while the correspondingoperating bar 2S near thedown-track A, engages with the pinion 23 at that end of the shaft 22 atits upper peripheral surface. Thus, as the gates slide in oppositedirections, when the mechanism of the track A is operated to close thegate 11, the shaft 22 will be revolved and will operate in a reversedirection the operating bar 27 connected with the gate near the track B,and will close the said gate also.

In the operation of the device, the gates being open, as shown in Fig.1, the lug 26 of the endless chain 25 of the up-track B, as shown inFig. 2, will be in position for engagement by an engine coming up thetrack, while thelug of the corresponding chain 30, at the opposite sideof the gate on said track will be out of position to be engaged by theengine. The engine by striking the lug 26 will carry the said lug indirection of the gates until it reaches the opposite end of the fenders,whereupon it will drop below the level of the tread of the rails andescape from contact with the engine, and the said chain will haverevolved the shaft 22 sufficiently to cause its pinions to act, one uponthe rack bar 27 and the other upon the rack bar 28 in a manner to closethe gates, the bar 27 being moved in a reverse direction to the ban 28.The gates will now remain closed until the engine strikes the lug 34: ofthe endless chain belt 30, which lug, by the movement of the gate 11,will have been carried from the end' of its fenders at which it wasconcealed, to the opposite end of the fenders, at which point it will beexposed. This lug, upon being struck by the engine, will again becarried to its concealed position, and both the gates 11 and 11a willhave been opened, and the lug 26 on the endless chain belt 25 will haveagain been carried to a position to be struck by the next train comingup the track. The operation of the device from the track A ispractically the same as that from the track B.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent* 1. The combination with a railway gate, of an endlesschain carried on vertically disposed sprocket wheels mounted beneath thetrack; the upper run of the chain being provided with a projectionworking longitudinally between the rails, and an operating mechanismconnecting the shaft of one of the sprocket wheels with the gate; onesuch endless chain and the mechanism operated thereby being located ateach side of the crossing whereby the gate will be opened and closed,substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination, with a sliding railway gate and sliding tripslocated one at each side of the gate and adapted to be operated by amoving train, of pinions actuated by the said IOO trips, and shiftingbars connected with opposite sides of the gate, the bars being providedwith rack surfaces engaging with the pinions, the rack surfaces of thebars engaging with opposite sides of the pinions, whereby the action ofone is the reverse of that of the other, as and for the purpose setforth.

3. The combination,with asliding railway gate, and chain trips locatedat opposite sides of the gate, each trip being provided with an osetupon its upper stretch, adapted to bev acted upon by a moving train, theoffsets being so located that one will be in position to oppositesidesof a line of tracks, the gates 2 5 being held to slide in oppositedirections, chain trips located in each track at opposite sides of thegates, said chain trips being provided with projections to be acted uponby a passing train, and pinions actuated by the said chain trips, thepinions of two transversely opposing trips being on the same shaft, ofshift-ing bars connected with opposite sides of the gates, the saidshifting bars being provided with racked surfaces engaging with thepinions' actuated by the trips, the shifting bars of one track engagingoppositely with their pinions, the corresponding shifting bars of theadjoining track being reversely engaged with their pinions, whereby, ifone trip is actuated both gates will be opened or closed, sliding inopposite directions, and means, substantially as described, for guardingthe trips, as and for the purpose specified.

JAMES RUTHERFORD. Witnesses:

C. SEDGWICK,

i?.V W. HANAFORD.

